Ohio Chiropractor Ordered to Pay Nearly $70K for Workers’ Comp Fraud

January 28, 2014 - WorkCompWire

Columbus, OH – A Fairfield (Butler County) chiropractor was sentenced to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution and investigation costs to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). Tariq Arif pleaded guilty Jan. 13 in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to one count of workers’ compensation fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor, as part of a plea agreement.

BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID) began investigating after receiving allegations that Arif billed for treatment not rendered to injured workers. The investigation included an undercover operation in which BWC-SID agents posed as injured workers and sought treatment at the Back and Pain Rehab Center, a chiropractic and rehabilitation clinic owned and operated by Arif. A search warrant was executed at the clinic as well.

Arif was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail, which was suspended for five years of community control. He was also ordered to pay $10,169.96 in restitution and $59,186.20 in investigative costs – a total of $69,356.16 – as a term of his community control.